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The official proponents of Proposition 8 and ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today said it is “profoundly gratified” that the California Supreme Court granted all their requests by agreeing to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure’s validity, granted their request to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest, denied the request of others to delay implementation of Proposition 8, and refused to allow outside groups to directly participate in the litigation. “This is a great day for the rule of law and the voters of California,”...

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight over Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage in California that voters approved Nov. 4. That's when the California Supreme Court could decide whether to review several lawsuits filed by Prop 8 opponents. The groups claim the ballot measure is unconstitutional. The court could also issue a stay on Prop 8 while it decides. That would allow same-sex marriages to resume until a final ruling is made on the lawsuits. Four Bay Area counties are the latest to join the legal fight to try to stop state Proposition 8. The Board...

d) Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center - These (fellow) wimmins libbers argue that, if the process that brought us Prop 8 is legitimized, women stand a distinct chance of being harmed by whatever rights some unholy alliance of self-loathing chicks and unattractive men want take away from women as a group. They point out that the 1879 California State Constitution prohibited Chinese people from voting. e) Asian Pacific American Legal Center, et al. - This petition was filed by a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of minorities - including the NAACP. As...

Six months ago, California's highest court discarded its reputation for caution and ended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Now the moderately conservative state Supreme Court is being asked to take an even riskier step -- to overturn the November voter initiative that reinstated the marriage ban and possibly provoke a voter revolt that could eject one or more of the justices from the bench. The court is under intense pressure from all sides. Its first response to the challenges may come today, when the justices meet privately in a weekly conference to decide which cases to accept for review....

The California Supreme Court is being asked by Proposition 8 backers to do something extreme -– to overturn the will of voters who earlier this month banned gay marriage. It’s a choice fraught with potential political ramifications for the justices -- including threats of recall. “It is a time of lots of crocodiles in the bathtub,” said Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who has followed the court for decades. "Their oath requires them to ignore these kinds of political threats. But the threat of having to face a contested election is a significant one.”

Proposition 8 Supreme Court Filings S168047 KAREN L. STRAUSS, et al., Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al. * Immediate Stay Request * Petitioner's Exhibits * Petitioner's Motion for Judicial Notice * Amended Petition * Motion to Intervene * Motion to Intervene by Official Proponents * Request for Judicial Notice * Preliminary Opposition * Preliminary Response from the Attorney General * Letters submitted in support of petition: The Bar Association of San Francisco et al. Forty-Four Members of the State Legislature Anti-Defamation League et al. Beverly Hills Bar Association et al. Los Angeles County Bar Association Sacramento Lawyers for Equality...

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA _____________________________________________________________ Karen L. Strauss, Ruth Borenstein, Brad Jacklin, Dustin Hergert, Eileen Ma, Suyapa Portillo, Gerardo Marin, Jay Thomas, Sierra North, Celia Carter, Desmund Wu, James Tolen and Equality California, Petitioners, v. Mark D. Horton, in his official capacity as State Registrar Of Vital StatisticsOf the State Of California and Director Of The California Department Of Public Health; Linette Scott, in her official capacity as Deputy Director Of Health Information & Strategic Planning for the California Department of Public Health; and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., in his official capacity as Attorney General...

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today urged the California Supreme Court to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure's validity and have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest. Expressing confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold the validity of Proposition 8, the authors of the measure urged the Supreme Court to deny requests to stay implementation of Proposition 8 pending resolution of the legal issues. In calling for the Supreme Court to take original jurisdiction of three challenges to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a heated, divisive campaign fueled by a record $73 million of spending, California voters have approved Proposition 8, which would change the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Opponents promptly filed suit to try to block the measure from taking effect.With 96 percent of the vote counted, Prop. 8 was winning by a decisive 400,000-vote margin, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent. It piled up huge margins in the Central Valley and carried some Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles County. The measure lost in every Bay Area county but Solano.As the vote counting continued this morning,...

The same California Supreme Court that created a "right" to homosexual "marriage" earlier this year has now ruled that the state may force healthcare professionals to provide services that support an immoral and physically dangerous lifestyle. California's highest court was unanimous in its decision on Monday that Christian doctors may not refuse to perform artificial insemination for homosexual patients. (See "California court says no religious exemption for doctors") Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), reacts to the ruling. "This is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of individuals to live and practice their faith," he...

RFFM.org Guest Column by Gregg Jackson * About a month ago, the California Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, issued a declaratory opinion that Proposition 22, which states that, "Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California," enshrined into statutory law by 61.4% of California voters in 2000 (over four million voters), was "unconstitutional" on the basis that "gender discrimination" violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution. The LA Times reported: "The California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would...

SAN FRANCISCO -- In his right hand, Luke Otterstad held a pole attached to a big yellow sign that read "Re-Criminalize Sodomy." In his left, he held a bullhorn that never touched his lips. "I haven't used it at all," said Otterstad, 22, who drove down from Placerville, prepped for a booming rhetorical showdown with same-sex marriage advocates Tuesday outside the California Supreme Court. "I expected a mob. Maybe it's too early in the morning." Or too late in the game. As lawyers on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate argued before the state's highest court and hundreds of...

As gay-rights groups call for marital equality and opponents warn of a public backlash, societal decay and religious conflict, the California Supreme Court is prepared for an epic three-hour hearing Tuesday on the constitutionality of the state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It shapes up as the most momentous case the court has heard in decades - comparable to the 1981 ruling that guaranteed Medi-Cal abortions for poor women, the 1972 ruling that briefly overturned the state's death penalty law, and the 1948 decision, cited repeatedly in the voluminous filings before the court,...

San Francisco (AP) -- The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers in the state can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana legally recommended by doctors. The company, Ragingwire Inc., successfully argued it rightfully fired Gary Ross after he flunked a company-ordered drug test because all marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states. Ross held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to legally use marijuana to treat a back injury he sustained while serving in the U.S. Air Force. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court...

Stockton, Calif. (AP) -- The city council voted to ask the California Supreme Court to rehear a case in which the court ruled Stockton could no longer sell vehicles seized from drug dealers and solicitors of prostitutes. City officials said Tuesday the court's 4-3 ruling last week deprived the city of an effective crime-fighting tool. The ruling overturned the laws of more than two dozen cities from Oakland to Los Angeles, and established that only state law can determine punishment drug and prostitution offenses. A Stockton ordinance allows police to seize and sell the cars of people caught selling drugs...

The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed Wednesday to decide whether the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates a constitutional ban on discrimination. The justices' move sets aside a lower court's decision in October that upheld state laws banning gays and lesbians from marrying one another. The outcome is not likely until late next year. Massachusetts is the only state that authorizes same-sex marriage. The justices are reviewing an October decision by the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal, which ruled 2-1 that California marriage laws do not discriminate because gays and lesbians get most all the rights of marriage...

I've opened this thread as a clearing house of information related to various judicial candidates in CA on the ballot for the Nov 2006 election. Feel free to add to it.

San Francisco -- Police cars chasing a suspect need to have more than flashing lights and a siren if a driver is charged with evading police, the California Supreme Court said Monday. In clarifying a key element necessary to convict a motorist of evading police, the court said the vehicle must look like an official police car. Ruling 5-2, the justices said a vehicle must be equipped with a siren, police lights in addition to some other feature marking it as an official vehicle. The court did not indicate what features it had in mind, but the opinion mentioned police...

California Supreme Court candidate Carol Corrigan won high praise Friday from a State Bar commission and most lawyers, judges and others commenting on her nomination in advance of next week's confirmation hearing. Corrigan, 57, a state appeals court justice in San Francisco since 1994, was nominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Dec. 9 to succeed Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Brown resigned from the state's high court June 30 to become a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C. Corrigan, Schwarzenegger's first Supreme Court nominee, has been described by most legal commentators as a moderate Republican close to the ideological center of...